Following its critically acclaimed season at the Joburg Promusica Theatre in 2008, Sing reunites stage veterans Tobie Cronjé and Lizz Meiring with talented stage and screen star, Terence Bridgett, in a baroque romp that’s guaranteed to strain the corsets; pop the bodices; and split the bloomers with waves of laughter.
Set in the 17
th century, in the Versailles court of France’s King Louis XIV, this darkly comic thriller takes us back to a time when prim and proper propriety ruled the day; the arts flowered; and palace conspiracies lurked around every corner.
Enter our unlikely heroes – Monsieur Toon de Angoulême de Pratteriste (Bridgett) and Monsieur Tril du Balzac (Cronjé) – or Tril and Toon to us plebs. They have been tasked with the ghastly job of getting rid of the king’s mistress, Madame Kol A. Ratuur (Meiring) – but these limp-wristed, sensitive musicians shudder at the mere thought of blood.
They devise a cunning plan: if they can get her to sing a devilishly difficult opera aria – knowing full well that no soprano who has attempted it has survived – they will pull off the perfect bloodless murder. Problem is, they have a diabolically tone-deaf diva on their hands.
Double entendres fly in this nicely naughty period comedy thriller written by award-winning playwright, Wikus du Toit, and directed by up and coming Alby Michaels. With freshly created Baroque style music by David Boverhoff performed live; costumes by Ann and Kirsten Bailes; wigs by Robert van der Westhuizen; and set and lighting design by Kosie Smit. If you’re sensitive to clever, yet provocative puns and some outrageous use of language, Sing, is saucy fun suited for over-16s only.
Hailed by Kobus Burger (
Beeld Plus) as “high-quality Afrikaans theatre of the calibre seldom seen in the city of gold”; by Diane de Beer (
Pretoria News and
Star Tonight) as “glorious... [and] sparkling with innovation and brilliance,” and by Paul Boekkooi (
Rapport) as “enjoyable, fresh and clever,” the Pretoria season of, Sing, looks set to be an extravagantly entertaining theatre treat.
Performances take place at the State Theatre Drama from 11 to 28 March, with bookings through Computicket,
www.statetheatre.co.za/ or
www.promusica.co.za.
The production of SING will be at the KKNK 2010 (Klein Karoo Arts Festival Oudshoorn) between 4 and 8 April.